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A plan backed by Boris Johnson to replace Heathrow and move the airport east could be thrown off course. A £3 billion flaw has emerged in the Mayor's ambition to build an estuary airport on the Isle of Grain.

The site is currently used to supply a fifth of Britain's energy needs and moving that elsewhere would come with a huge price tag

The airports which serve London are all continuing to operate despite the snow.

Heathrow said conditions were fine and it was not expecting any problems.

Gatwick said it was operating as normal but passengers should allow plenty of time for their journey to the airport.

There have been minor delays at Stansted and de-icing trucks had to be used. Luton also said they have had some delays to flights. Both airports advise passengers to allow extra time for their journey and to check the status of their flight with the airline before travelling to the airport.

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63 flights had to be cancelled at Heathrow Airport this morning due to poor visibility. There were also severe disruptions at London City Airport. Both airports have advised passengers to check with their airlines. There was also no service this morning on the Woolwich ferry.

Boris Johnson has called in the big guns to help plan his proposed 'hub' airport in the south-east. He has employed award winning architect Zaha Hadid, who designed the Aquatics Centre used during London 2012. Simon Harris has more.

The Mayor of London has appointed a world-class team of experts to help develop plans for a multi runway hub airport in the southeast.

Boris Johnson has hired London 2012 Aquatics Centre architect Zaha Hadid to help design a new London airport Credit: PA

He will also explain to an aviation inquiry convened by the Parliamentary Transport Select Committee. Committee members are expected to ask him why developing a new hub airport is so important to London and to explain why further expansion of Heathrow is impossible.

Appointing a world-class team of experts has added further weight to the work being driven forward by the Mayor to address the nation’s aviation crisis.

He has made it very clear that he wishes to see the speediest possible resolution to the debate on where to build a multi runway hub airport, so that the British economy is given the best chance to prosper in the face of huge competition from its global rivals

Heathrow Airport Holdings has announced it will sell Stansted Airport for £1.5bn to the Manchester Airports Group. The company said it will now focus on running it's four remaining airports - Heathrow, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton. The deal should be completed by February.

Heathrow's Chief Executive has told a committee of MPs that the airport must be allowed to expand to boost UK business. Even though other airports around London have spare capacity, Colin Matthews argued that long-haul airlines prefer Heathrow because it can handle more transfer passengers.

He says the airlines can only fill long-haul flights if the departure airport is a hub with lots of short-range links allowing passengers to go there and transfer. He warns that if Heathrow does not expand, airlines will use airports like Paris or Amsterdam instead.